Seasons greetings from the OSR Alumni Assocation

Greetings OSR Alumni, Students and Faculty,

We hope this holiday season finds the OSR community well and warm!  It is 21 degrees right now.  As we head into 2009, the OSR AA board plans to use the Grapevine to provide periodic news to highlight the work of Alumni volunteers on behalf of the OSR AA mission:

We are a community of OSR graduates committed to life-long learning, service, leadership, and the legacy of OSR. In this mission, the Alumni Association seeks to serve the community of OSR graduates, current and future students and friends of the programs.

Alumni, students and faculty are invited to contact any OSR AA board member to learn how they can become actively involved by clicking here.

Highlights: September 2008

New board members welcomed: Julie Bowen (OSR-8), Steve Byers (OSR-13) and John Curry (OSR-9).  Steve Byers now serves as co-chair of the alumni board with Lucy Garrick (OSR-12).

At half-day offsite, facilitated by Dana Simpson (OSR-12), statements of work and action plans were reviewed for the key initiatives identified at our summer retreat. Below a list of initiatives and brief descriptions and the alumni board sponsors for each. OSR alumni and students are invited to participate in these projects by contacting the alumni board sponsor.

OSR AA Key Intiatives

Fund Raising — Carolyn Davis
Explore possibilities and practicalities of fund raising on behalf of OSR-NW/OSR AA

Outreach to Community — Lucy Garrick
Create and leverage opportunities for OSR Alumni to participate in outreach to the larger community via learning and service.

Communities of Practice — Iris Lemer and David Kleweno
Organize an open space event in which the OSR community can foster the emergence of Communities of Practice for deepening life-long learning and OSR domains of expertise.

OSR-NW/OSR AA Board Collaboration — Claire Ricci
Find opportunities for the OSR-NW and OSR AA boards to work collaboratively

Mentoring Students and Recent Graduates — Bob Woodruff and Paula Brekke
Explore the possibility of a mentoring program for recent graduates

Online Events Calendar — Larry West
Develop an online planning management calendar of all OSR events and activities; and develop a method for alumni to submit proposals for self-initiated events and activities

OSR AA Governance — Julie Bowen
Explore options for formalizing the OSR AA governance structure and processes

October 2008

OSR NW and OSR AA holds first joint meeting with fundraising as our topic. John Bloom of the Rudolph Steiner Foundation of San Francisco facilitates. Thank you to Claire Ricci and Jean Singer for your meeting design.

Larry West and Carolyn Davis draft criteria for an OSR AA event coordination process

First OSR AA outreach event is held to respond to OSR Survey 2007 survey results in which 79% of survey respondents requested programs to develop my skills and practice. The event: Beyond What and Why with Don Swartz," drew 50 attendees for a 1 1/2 day workshop on working with complex change.  Design team  Thank you to Don for being our special guest, to our wonderful particpants for their hard work and generosity of the design team: Michelle Alverson (OSR-8), Adela Basayne (OSR-12), Marilyn Ferguson-Wolf (OSR-10), Lucy Garrick (OSR-12), David Klewno (OSR-10).

Bob and Paula contract with OSR 14 students during the consultative practices session to work with OSR AA on the Mentoring intiative.

Steve Byers and Carolyn Davis volunteer to be board sponsors for the June 2009 OSR AA conference; an invitation to volunteers for the design team is issued.

November 2008

OSR AA  2009 June Conference  Design Team. Thank you for volunteering! Nancy Anvick (OSR-10), Steve Byers (OSR-13), Paul Dupree (OSR-12), John Curry (OSR-9), Carolyn Davis (OSR-8), Rebecca Hoff (OSR-12), Brian Mason (OSR-8), Hannah Ngyen (OSR-16), Jessica Zinda (OSR-12)

OSR-14 students, Kathy Coronetz and Posy Gering begin consultation regarding Mentoring intitative. 

December 2008

Thank you Kathy and Posy for your excellent report out on the Mentoring program inquiry you did with OSR 14. Key findings reported:

• Very strong interest with requirements for a simple, informal approach that is beneficial to both mentor and mentoree
• Many definitions of mentoring and a central theme of organic, informal interactions between alumni and graduates
• Matching mentors and mentorees will be a key challenge.

Like any good consulting project the results only whetted the AA board's appetite for more.  We are delighted to hear that Kathy is interested in doing further work on this project as part of her consultation project for OSR-14.  She will be working with Paula and Bob.  The OSR AA board wishes to acknowledge another first: the integration of the consultation praxis sessions and the OSR AA board.

To contact OSR Alumni board members with questions, comments or ideas please email us at osraa@osr-nw.org.

Happy Holidays to all!